Wolf in Winter
by treblegnome
Summary: Jaime come to rescue Sansa from the Vale but it is the Hound she misses.


It made perfect sense to Jaime that this Alayne Stone that people spoke of might be Sansa Stark. It would be just like Petyr Baelish to hide her away for himself like this. He would use her to gain power and maybe use her for more than that. The problem was going to be entering the Vale, alone. Brienne was gone but he would still keep his oath, now for her sake as much as for Catelyn Stark.

At the bottom of the great stairs in the Vale, Jaime found Petyr Baelish's dead body. Someone must have pushed him down those stairs, or perhaps he fell. Jaime hoped he had been pushed. He made the journey to the top taking several hours. To his surprise and suspense, no one tried to stop him or even seemed to be watching the valley below. As he approached the doors of the great castle he saw another dead body, stabbed in the neck. The doors were unbarred and open a few inches. Jaime slipped inside and began searching the castle. The place seemed empty. What had happened here?

He found the hall of bed chambers easily enough. The sounds coming from one room caught his attention and he approached it cautiously. A look through the partially opened door revealed a nearly nude woman on the bed, her auburn hair in a tangle across the pillow. The man on top of her, using her body, had knife to her throat. She whimpered but lay limp, no longer struggling. Jaime took his sword out and kicked the door open the rest of the way. The distraction was just what she needed. In one quick motion she grabbed the knife from the man's hand and stabbed him through the neck. Blood spurted everywhere and he writhed for a moment before Jaime dragged the man off of her and left him on the floor to die.

Sansa covered herself with the bloodstained sheets and sat curled up on the bed, chin on her knees, peering at the blood soaked stain on the floor. Jaime put his sword away and the movement caught her gaze. She stared at him in confusion.

"Ser Jaime...?"

"I'm not going to hurt you Sansa. I'm here to help." He hadn't planned out what he was going to say to her and he realized that perhaps he should have. How was he going to convince her to trust enough to come with him? Jaime approached the bed and sat on the edge of it, he chose a spot far from Sansa to give her space. He noticed she was trembling. He could hardly blame her.

"I killed three people today..." She was studying the blood on her hands.

"I know. But it doesn't look like you had any choice."

Sansa said nothing and he began to wonder if she was simply going mad. "Sansa, what happened here today?"

"Most of the household went to the tourney...I thought it was a good time to escape...Petyr tried to stop me and I pushed him...the guard by the door heard his screams and I hid until I could kill him...but the other guard..." She bit her lip, unwilling or unable to go on.

"I take it Littlefinger hasn't treated you well?" Jaime said.

Sansa gave him a look that he couldn't interpret, Then she was suddenly leaning forward to the edge of the bed, vomiting on the floor. The sheet slipped down from her back as she did so and Jaime saw that her skin was scarred with lines and puncture marks. Evidence of severe beatings. He crossed the room and poured some water into a cup, offering it to Sansa. She took it wordlessly.

"Let's get out of this room." Jaime suggested. "I'll wait for you outside the door." Sansa nodded agreement and she dressed and joined him moments later on a bench in the hallway.

"Your scars...did Baelish beat you?" Jaime asked.

"No. That was from Joffrey. He ordered the kingsguard to do it."

Jaime felt sick. He had been gone from the capital for a year while she was held prisoner. What sorts of horrors had she been put through during that time? "Why? How often did he do that?" He tried to control his anger.

"Everytime Robb won a battle or anytime I said something that displeased him...at most I went a fortnight before he'd have another reason to punish me."

"I am sorry...you should have been treated more kindly."

She looked at him questioningly but said nothing.

"And what of Littlefinger? What was he doing with you here?" Jaime asked.

"Using me...to gain power...to get Winterfell...to inherit the Vale..and using me as his mistress..." Her voice was just barely audible.

"Gods!" Jaime swore. He realized that the beautiful young woman sitting next to him was completely and utterly broken by all that she had been put through. "No one is going to hurt you anymore Sansa. I'm going to keep you safe and I'm going to take you home."

"Why would you do that?"

"Because I promised your mother that I would bring you home. I intend to keep that promise."

Sansa said nothing she continued looking at her hands.

"Sansa, I understand that you hate me and don't trust me." Jaime began, intending to say more about his determination to help her anyway. She stopped him before he could finish.

"I don't hate you Ser Jaime. And certainly you are more trustworthy than Littlefinger or Joffrey."

Jaime was stunned. Did she not know what he had done or was she actually stupid as his sister had claimed? "Maybe you aren't aware, but my family is responsible for the deaths of most of yours. Plus, I'm the Kingslayer. I haven't the honor to keep my vows like you noble Starks."

He expected her to lash out at his words. Instead her look was something akin to pity. "My father did hate you. But sometimes fathers are wrong. When the kingsguard stripped me naked and beat me, it was on Joffrey's orders. They kept their oaths and I can't imagine father would have found the honor in that... It isn't right that people should hate you for killing the mad king. He was a horrible king, everyone knows that, someone needed to stop him vows or not..."

Sansa looked absently at her hands again and Jaime found that he was speechless. No one had ever appreciated what he'd done for the seven kingdoms in killing the mad king. He had only known ridicule.

"Did you know that it was Littlefinger who sent someone to kill Bran after you pushed him from the tower?"

"Littlefinger?" Jaime ignored the fact that she'd implicated him. "Why?"

"He meant to start a war so that Starks and Lannisters and Baratheons would kill each other off leaving the throne open for himself...he wanted us to hate each other and because of that I refuse to hate you."

They sat in silence for a long while and eventually Jaime reached for her hand. She took his hand and held it willingly.

The first night of camping out after leaving the Vale was filled with silence. Sansa was too lost in her thoughts and fears to say much of anything and Jaime found that he had no humor or wit to pull her out of it. Long after they fell asleep, Jaime was awakened by Sansa's nightmares. She struggled with something in her dreams. He shook her gently to wake her. Startled, Sansa sat up and curled her knees up to her chin as she had earlier. She was shaking, biting her lip in an effort not to cry. He wasn't sure what to do with her in this state.

"Sansa...what did you dream?"

"I dreamt of all the people who have hurt me...and all those I've lost...I wish I were dead along with them."

"You can't mean that. You're so close to going home now." He couldn't think of anything else to encourage her.

"Winterfell is burned." She said flatly. "My family is dead. Even if Stark bannermen would help rebuild it, I'll still be alone...and eventually someone will try to marry me for my claim...I will be nothing more than some Northern Lord's property... and I certainly won't be given a choice in the matter. It would be simpler if I were dead."

Jaime sat up and moved beside her. "Sansa, if you don't want to marry, you could certainly rule Winterfell on your own. Other ladies have ruled castles and done it well. And Winterfell isn't far from the Wall, you might just be able to spend some time with Jon Snow."

She glanced at him, a little bit of hope in her eyes, then it turned to sadness again. "And then he'll go back to his post and I'll be alone again." A few silent tears slipped from her eyes.

"There must be people still left from your father's household. Maids or guards who will be part of the household when you return. Or maybe you even made a friend or two at kingslanding who you can trust to stay with you in Winterfell."

Sansa's expression turned angry. "Septa Mordane is gone...Jeyne Poole is too...Jory is gone. You killed him."

"I thought you decided not to hate me." Jaime said gently.

"I did." She sat silently getting hold of her emotions before going on. "There might be others of the household left somewhere. I don't know. I didn't have many friends in the capital. Those few who were kind to me are dead now, I think."

"Who was kind to you? Maybe we can find them if it would help."

"There was a handmaid, Shae. And the Hound, the Hound was always kind to me."

Jaime was surprised to hear this news about the Hound. "I'm afraid you're right. the maid Shae is gone. But if the Hound is still alive, I have an idea where he might be."

"Really?" Her eyes held hope for the first time and it only made him more curious.

"What did Clegane do that made you admire him so?"

Sansa smiled a little. "Many things. He showed me that I would be spared pain if I tried harder to please Joffrey instead of defying him. He lied for me once to Joffrey to save me a beating. He saved me from being raped during the bread riot, killed four men to do it when Joffrey had told him to leave me to the mob...He never beat me though all the other kingsguard did. Joffrey told him to once and he refused...he covered me with his cloak when Joffrey had me stripped and sometimes he tried to stop the other guards hitting me...Before he fled the battle of Blackwater, he offered to take me with him to Winterfell...but he was drunk and I thought it best not to go with him...I've often wondered if I was wrong about that..."

"Probably not. He might have taken advantage of you."

Sansa shrugged. "I might have let him."

"Seven hells!" Jaime laughed. "You fell in love with that ugly dog didn't you?"

"He isn't a dog!"

"Sorry, you fell in love with Clegane." He said more seriously, barely hiding his sarcasm.

"I don't know...I would like to know what happened to him."

"Tomorrow then, we'll head towards the Quiet Isle. I've heard a rumor that he might be there."

Sansa smiled and lay back down to sleep again. She had no more dreams that night.

Jaime left Sansa speaking with the Elder Brother while he went to find the burned man. The Elder had confirmed that Clegane lived on the Isle but he couldn't say whether or not Sandor would be willing to leave it or not. Jaime thought it best if he spoke to Clegane fist so Sansa agreed to let him. He approached the cabin he'd been directed to and knocked on the door. It was pulled open roughly from the inside.

"Kingslayer! What in seven hells are you doing here?" The Hound growled.

"It's good to see you too Clegane." Jaime pushed past him and went inside the cabin. It was small and simple, befitting a holy man,

"If you mean to have my head for desertion it might prove difficult with just one hand."

"I'm not here about what happened at Blackwater. I'm sure the great keep has enough heads on spikes as it is. I'm here about Sansa Stark."

"What about her?" The Hound's words were gruff but the momentary expression of worry on his face betrayed him. It was all Jaime needed to know.

"Catlyn Stark made me swear an oath to see her daughters safely home. I haven't forgotten it. I found Sansa in the Vale not more than a week ago. Apparently she wasn't ready to go home just yet. She didn't see the point in going without family or friends there anymore...for some incomprehensible reason, she misses you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sandor was almost dumbfounded.

"I don't know what it means Clegane. I offered to take her home and she was more interested in finding you instead. I don't know if she's smitten with you or if she just feels safer with you around. Either way, she's been through enough hell that it seems only right that you finish the journey to Winterfell with us since that's what she wants."

"Aye." He nodded, still deep in thought. "I'll come with you."

When they arrived back at the great hall Sansa looked up from her conversation with the Elder Brother to see Sandor across the room. To their surprise, Sansa did something very unladylike. She ran to Sandor and threw her arms around him. He embraced her, lifting her up so her feet no longer touched the floor.

"Little Bird..." He whispered into her hair. Sansa was crying on his shoulder and to Jaime's great shock, Sandor had tears in his eyes as well.

Jaime walked away, giving them a moment of space.

The journey was different after that. Sansa still had nightmares but she also had someone to hold her and comfort her when she woke up screaming. Someone who was not a Lannister.

Jaime said nothing when the two started sleeping next to each other, embraced. It wasn't as if she were an innocent maid any longer and she seemed to welcome Clegane's presence and even became less reticent with him around. At the same time, Jaime was a bit irritated that he was of so little use on the journey.

Several weeks had passed and they were more than halfway to Winterfell. Sandor was busy with the horses and Jaime was setting up the fire.

"Ser Jaime?" Sansa sat down on a rock near him.

"Yes." He wondered why she was approaching him, she'd been almost shy so far.

"I should have thanked you before...for taking me from the Vale, and for finding Sandor, and for bringing us this far..."

Jaime sighed and nodded. "It was the least I could do Sansa."

"After we get there, what will you do? Will you leave or stay?"

"I hadn't thought about that yet." In truth, he had thought about it. He just hadn't made any decisions that seemed right.

"If you wish to stay, I would welcome your presence in my household guard."

Jaime was surprised that she would offer this. "Thank you, but I doubt the rest of your northmen would welcome me."

She nodded. "That may be true but I would welcome you nonetheless."

"And what about Sandor? Is he to join your household guard too?"

Sansa glanced at Sandor with the horses. "That depends on how well the bannermen accept him..."

Jaime understood the implications of the statement. If the bannermen would have it, she would marry Clegane. If they strongly disliked him she would keep him as a sworn shield and a lover. Either way they would not be parted.

A few days before they reached Winterfell the three set up camp and Jaime commented on the brightness of the moon that night. Sansa dropped the cooked rabbit in her hands and stood with an expression of shock.

"What's the matter?" Jaime asked her from his spot by the fire. Sandor starred with concern.

"Gods! I've missed two moons bloods!" Her eyes met Sandor's and his mouth fell open. Then he laughed and went to hug her.

Jaime watched the two of them in awe. "Seriously? How did you two manage that without me knowing?"

Sansa blushed, still in Sandor's arms.

"You sleep like a log, Lannister." Sandor said with another laugh.


End file.
